Ravens' John Harbaugh noncommital on when Ray Lewis will return to practice

Pictures of the Ravens game against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 17.

Jeff Zrebiec

Injured linebacker Ray Lewisis rehabbing at the team’s facility today, but Ravens coach John Harbaugh said it’s “day-to-day” on when he’ll return to practice.

“He’s not practicing today,” Harbaugh said. “We’ll just play it, I think, day-by-day, as far as whether he’s practices or not. He’s not imminent to return to play or anything like that so to me, it’s really a non-story. He’ll get out there when he’s ready to practice, when the elbow holds up.”

Currently on injured reserve with a designation to return, Lewis hasn’t played since the Ravens’ Week 6 victory over the Dallas Cowboys, a game he exited early after tearing the triceps muscle in his right arm while trying to make a tackle.

After Lewis had surgery to repair the injury, it was expected that he’d be out for the season, but he’s made so much progress in his rehab that the Ravens now feel that he’ll play before the end of the regular season.

Lewis is eligible to return to practice Thursday, but the first game he’d be able to play is the Dec. 16 game against the Denver Broncos.

“It means a lot just seeing him out there. If he gets out to practice, it would be pretty amazing,” said Ravens running back Ray Rice. “The guy, to me, is my modern day Superman. … Why is he coming back? People ask that question all the time. He’s coming back because he firmly believes that this is a team that can go ahead and do it. He does it for us. He’s not doing it for the stats. He’s not doing it for the fame. He’s doing it for none of that no more. He’s doing it solely because he loves the Ravens, he loves his teammates, he loves this organization. If you think about that, if you put your pride aside for a guy like me or anybody on the team, it’s our duty to go out there and give the best of our ability every day. That’s where it’s at for him.”

Ravens outside linebacker Terrell Suggs said that the Ravens, who are 4-1 this season since Lewis went down, can’t wait to get the long-time defensive leader back in the lineup.

“I know when he did it, all you guys said he’s out for the season but we’ve heard that before,” said Suggs, making reference to his own situation when he returned early from a torn Achilles despite fact that it was said and written that he’d likely miss the rest of the season. “I guess [it’s] what they got down in the water up in here in Maryland. It is going to be good when we finally do get ‘The General’ back but whenever that is, we’re going to continue to play football until he gets back.”